As DC Statehood Green Party member I plan to continue developing and promoting ideas that will grow a green state of DC.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

McMillan Park - A Finer Vision for Pro-People Development & Major Court Decision

I felt deep concern over DC's plans to help destroy the only pre-WWII park open to African Americans. The NO-Bid developer our taxes have subsidized for the past 7 years would have destroyed most of the 20+ acres underground and built an inner city Tysons Corner above. I concluded that politicians must have received a lot of financial support to do something so foolish, but that one solution is to interest a different group of developers in making use of all this underground space scheduled for destruction. Fortunately the DC Court of Appeals has ruled unanimously that alternative designs must be considered. [See the letter to Friends of McMillan Park posted in this article.]The Administration should want to receive long term benefits of taxes generated by employing people, sales and use fees, and long leases as they are doing with the Old Post Office Building (Trump Hotel) for 60 years. Instead the MAYOR intends to sell OUR park to VMP for $17million when it is assessed at $100million. Surely we could find a better way to use this space that would open it to all DC residents and visitors, and also generate income to the city.Then I saw the picture reproduced on page 3 below in the Sept. 2001 Wine Enthusiast Magazine whose lead article was "Ultimate Wine Cellar Dining". The ceiling of that restaurant looked almost identical to the ceiling of McMillan's underground space. Bingo, a new idea was born and I prepared the document below. Unfortunately it did not transfer with clarity from Libre Office, so I will write out what is hard to see for your easier reading. Please add your Comments for ideas that are not listed here.Page 1:A FINER VISION FOR McMILLAN PARK For seven years we in DC have paid $1million a year to subsidize a NO-BID developer named Vision McMillan Park (VMP) to plan destruction of this historic site to turn it into another Tyson's Corner. Community action, pleading to our DC Council and other efforts have failed to stop this juggernaut. Our prepaid DC government wants development at all cost, so we now need to consider better development that will provide the tax revenues they demand. [This was written before the Court ruled unanimously on our case and said we must come up with something better than VMP's plan.] Since one strong argument against the current plan is that the intersection of North Capitol St. and Michigan Ave. is already a rush hour traffic nightmare, a better plan should focus on off peak hours. The plan suggested here responds to those concerns. Why not have Wolf Trap and Glen Echo type events here? To enhance them and provide added revenue, why not have a mix of high and lower end restaurants, wine cellars and rathskellers in the underground spaces with their 15 foot ceilings. DC already has thriving custom brewery businesses, and Virginia and Maryland can offer more and fine vintages from wineries. Custom foods like mushrooms, culinary herbs, and other specialties could be grown underground to supply them, and ceilings painted in spectacular art can attract visitors and paying customers while providing a venue for our artists.Page 2: Two restaurants in the article, The Westin Salishan in Oregon, and the Sardine Factory in Monterey, California, are described here in detail. The top and bottom of the page reads: DC must have a score of restauranteurs, custom brewery owners and others who would be excited by this concept. Now we must go out and find them, so they can add their voices to the fight to keep McMillan Park close to its original form and for uses that will be unique and attractive to visitors and residents. Let us contact and encourage such bold entrepreneurs to take part in creating a real vision for McMillan Park that will not resemble Tyson's Corner and its nightmare traffic and inhuman scale, a vision that very few in DC would desire.Page 3: Under this photo of the Federalist Restaurant/XV Beacon Hotel, Boston, MA, I wrote: This photo, which so resembles what could be built in McMillan's underground spaces, inspired this "Finer Vision." G. Lee Aikin (DCSGP), December 2016.Page 4: Here is one view of the 20+ acres of underground space that could be developed without harm to the above ground park. The VMP plan is to destroy most of it. The ceilings are 15' high and the distance between columns is about 22'. There is a total of nearly 1,000,000 square feet just waiting for imaginative use. Below that photo are suggested uses for both below and above ground. I will list them under page 4 and will be adding to them as new comments and ideas are suggested or found.

List of potential uses for the 20+ acres of underground space with 15' ceilings: * Unique wine cellar and rathskeller type dining and wining establishments * Brew pubs and possible small brewing capabilities * Underground farming of specialty herbs,mushroom, other foods for above businesses * Underground fish culture [can provide nutrients for vegetable growth] * Ceiling space and columns used for murals and public art (our own Sistine Chapel?) * Other stores, social, and artistic spaces, as well as open area for public activities * You supply your ideas: Place them as Comments at bottom of this blog post.Above ground ideas not envisioned by the so-called VMP "Visionaries": * Wolf Trap, Glen Echo and Torpedo Factory type events and activities * Community gardens, including ones for busing in seniors and people from Wards 7 & 8 * Solar installations to power below and above ground needs. * A jogging track and other small group sports spaces * You supply your ideas: Place them as Comments at bottom of this blog post.Major activities should be oriented to non rush hour times to avoid the terrible gridlock VMP's plan will invariably cause at this already difficult intersection.A number of interesting McMillan photos are included in an article printed in this magazine for the Architectural profession.------------------------If you wish to contact Council members and other key city officials to urge support of this and other ideas to be developed, below is a list of email addresses, mostly of Council members and their staff asistants:Email: * mayor@dc.gov, eom@dc.gov, * bnadeau@dccouncil.us, * jevans@dccouncil.us, jackevans@dccouncil.us, * mcheh@dccouncil.us, * btodd@dccouncil.us, * kmcduffie@dccouncil.us (McMillan Park is in his Ward 5),* callen@dccouncil.us, * vgray@dccouncil.us, vincegray2016@gmail.com, * twhite@dccouncil.us, trayonwhite2011@gmail.com, * rwhite@dccouncil.us, * abonds@dccouncil.us, * dgrosso@dccouncil.us, * esilverman@dccouncil.us, * pmendelson@dccouncil.us (Council Chair), * karl.racine@dc.gov (Attorney General), and Staff: brian.kenner@dc.gov, joaquin.mcpeek@dc.gov, sarosh.olpadwala@dc.gov, eric.shaw@dc.gov, Colleen.Willger@dc.gov, david.maloney@dc.gov, tfazzini@dccouncil.us, tjackson@dccouncil.us, sgrant@dccouncil.us, rwerner@dccouncil.us, jwillingham@dccouncil.us, nrentz@dccouncil.us, snewman@dccouncil.us, dturner@dccouncil.us, bmitchell@dccouncil.us, rgulstone@dccouncil.us, lmarks@dccouncil.us, aphelps@dccouncil.us, chuck@chuckthies.com, mngwenya@dccouncil.us, bbledsoe@dccouncil.us, dmeadows@dccouncil.us, TTate@dccouncil.us, kforrest@dccouncil.us, tgoodman@dccouncil.us, srosenamy@dccouncil.us, mblackwell@dccouncil.us, aweisbard@dccouncil.us mwynn@dccouncil.us, mbattle@dccouncil.us, alan.bergstein@dc.gov, bennett.rushkoff@dc.gov, james.pittman@dc.gov. Please invite your friends to do the same.----------------------------
Why is Mayor Bowser having a "groundbreaking" on Dec. 7, 2016? [The following day, Dec. 8, the DC Court of Appeals said she and the developers could not do what they wanted. Specifically they could not violate Covenants DC had signed with the Federal Dept. of the Interior.] Suggested reasons by Friends of McMillan Park:

We learned late last week without notice that Mayor Bowser will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the city's planned development of the McMillan site on Wednesday, December 7th at 11am (see announcement here).

So what's up with that? The D.C. Court of Appeals has not yet handed down a decision on the case, and no building/demolition permits have been issued for the site, right? That's correct. The Friends of McMillan Park is the lead plaintiff in that challenge of the D.C. zoning and historic preservation decisions enabling the project, and we'd know right away if the court had handed down a decision. It hasn't. We think the decision may come in January 2017.

So why is the Mayor doing this? DMPED and the Office of the Mayor are not exactly on speaking terms with the Friends of McMillan Park, so they haven't confided in us what's behind all this. But we suspect that what motivates the permit applications and this groundbreaking event is the fact that a number of key entitlements that the city awarded to enable the project are about to expire. The zoning order that approved the first stage Planned Unit Development (PUD) for the site in November, 2014 (zoning order in case 13-14) and the land disposition and surplussing legislation from the D.C. Council dated December 2014, and perhaps other subsidiary documents, expire after two years from issuance, which is right about now. So, we presume, these actions -- groundbreaking and permit application -- are formal gestures sufficient to make sure these entitlements don't expire. Looking at this from the city's point of view, if the court were to rule in the city's favor (which we of course do not want nor expect), but the PUD and other key entitlements had expired, the city would have to redo all the expired entitlements supporting the project. If you'd like to see the permits the city has applied for, visit the DCRA permits pageand look for 2940 North Capitol Street, NW, the mythical address of this yet-unbuilt project. For those of you anxious to have a look tonight, DCRA has taken down the page for maintenance but it should be back up Monday.

So if that's the case, that this is not actually the beginning of demolition/construction on the project, why didn't DMPED and the Mayor say so in the event announcement?We wish we knew. The Washington Business Journal immediately picked up on the fact that this matter is not even out of court yet. The city's announcement did not say that construction would begin right away, but it led a lot of people to assume that. The city has not been too open or transparent in this process, so at least they're consistent. Other than extending the life of the entitlements and sowing widespread confusion, the city is doing nothing of substance with this groundbreaking ceremony that we know of. Have a good time, RSVP for the event, and please extend to her honor the Mayor continued assurances of our highest consideration.

Detailed comments on the Court victory - same day as above list of links:

The Court of Appeals Ruled in Our Favor, but the War Goes On

Dear Friend of McMillan Park,

We are still euphoric over the D.C. Court of Appeals' decision in our favor, issued just one week ago.That court decision frankly was more favorable to our side than we had dreamed. This court decision is the first time that there has been any official look at the city's plans outside of the Wilson Building. With the notable exception of the D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson, everyone else in the Wilson Building apparently sees no problem with the proposed development and thinks it's a great idea.

This court decisionvacates (cancels or nullifies, in ordinary language) the District's one zoning and two preservation orders that enable the proposed development. We were hoping that the court would at least remand this case back to the city to revise specified aspects of the plan, so cancellation of the three entitlements is more than we'd hoped for. Without those three orders, nothing can be done on the site at this time. Not legally, anyway. The court order obligates the District to rethink this whole project, and it actually recommended that something else entirely might be considered. Although those words sound rather innocuous, this is pretty strong language in a court order. The court stated that all the things the city wants to do could be justified, but they have not been justified, and was so firm in that position that it cancelled the three orders.

We are not so naive as to think that the District is not right now looking closely at that order and trying to figure a way to push the project forward anyway.The Mayor has said as much in the few government statements her office has made. But this is a game changer, and just tweaking some details of the existing plans aren't sufficient. Alternative designs are REQUIRED, both by the District's preservation law and specific mention of that in the court decision. The court found the District's plans not in compliance with its own rules and regulations.

So we are gearing up foranother fight. But we don't yet know what the District plans to do, or how, or when. Most likely the District will hold new hearings to try to justify some modified form of its plans. The District government would like to characterize us as interfering. On the contrary, we would very much like to work WITH our government and see a request for proposals for an open bidding and design competition (never happened) that is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan's recommendations for the site, the historic designation of the site, and community opinions and wishes. If our government would just work WITH existing rules and regulations, we'd be with them, helping. But they're not even close yet. Not even close. High rise buildings and demolition of 80-90% of the site? Traffic? Not even close.

We are planning a gathering sometime in January, a time to celebrate this wonderful judicial ruling and talk about the future, and of course we hope to raise some additional funds with our new credibility.We will advise you when we have a time, date, and place for this event. On the fundraising side, so many of you have been extremely generous, but at this moment we have covered only about one quarter of the costs accrued in the lengthy zoning, preservation, and court challenges. It is certain that there will be additional battles.

In the meantime,if you would like a copy of the court's decision, please contact the email address at the bottom of this message and we'd be delighted to get a copyto you as an email attachment (it's not very large). And we're always looking for volunteer help with a variety of things that help us keep going, so please let us know if you're interested.

Please spread the word of our success, even though FINALLY we are getting a bit of press coverage on who we are and what we have done. Thousands of persons like you have done something, minor or major, even if only to mention to a friend or neighbor that there's something wrong with what the city's doing at McMillan, and that has helped this effort succeed. That is what this is about: a community focused on the revitalization of something of astonishing beauty. Keep it up! Christmas has come early for those of us who want a beautiful McMillan Park in our future and you are angels, helping us bring our park back to life.

To ram the development down our throats the DC govt. hired Jamie Fontaine PR firm to "neutralize opposition", a violation of the Constitutional right to "petition the govt. for redress of grievances". When exposed to Bowser, Mendelson , they have covered this up and Deputy Mayor Miller lied about his office paying for Fontaine!

Given that tourism is a major DC source of income, and given that government employment could suffer during a Trump administration, we should consider ways to enhance the tourism potential of McMillan Park.

I recently watched a Japanese TV show about mushroom culture in Japan. They have 21 species of mushrooms used there for culinary purposes. We could have an underground store featuring international goods and foods. Unusual Japanese style mushrooms actually grown in the underground area could be a product sold there. Perhaps we could approach the Japanese Embassy to see if this is a project that would interest them. The same could be done with other embassies and food or cultural products like cheese and pasta.

Having observed the popularity of watching products and food being made through a store window, I believe craft and food production showcases should be a popular addition. Examples near 14th and U Sts., NW are the Cupcake Factory on U St., and another baked goods store on 14th south of U St. Studio and craft space for artists and artisans could be provided at a low cost, with the opportunity to draw people by actually producing items before a window by the walkways. The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria is a nearby place where this sort of activity has taken place.--------------------------If we have to build a big building, here is one of the better ideas I have seen for putting in a park.http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/best-tall-building?utm_source=aol&utm_medium=media&utm_campaign=aolfeature#136046